Windows 10 Discussion Thread and Information

c627627 · Jul 25, 2016

Actually it has not been discussed before with proof.
Once again, of all the millions of users around the world, no one anywhere on any web site has posted about this, and it's beyond unbelievable that there exists no FAQ that addresses a non OEM *RETAIL* license conversion.

It seems obvious but we have no proof, that a cloud record keeps the details that are not visible on the machine itself.
Meaning, Microsoft cloud has recognized that a retail license has been upgraded from Windows 7/8 to Windows 10 - with all the benefits that implies. Including ability to install on multiple machines (not at the same time) without calling Microsoft.

One of us will find out the hard way sooner or later.

But I can think of no more important question about the Free Windows 10 Upgrade project. It has never been answered by anyone at Microsoft that we know of. They should have addressed this themselves. It should have been paragraph 1 question 1.

Audioaficionado · Jul 25, 2016

I'm going to update my last 3 PCs. Then I'll install winten from my last three unused win7 COAs on 3 separate VMs to get them registered. I'll keep them as possible spares for future use. I'll miss my windows gadgets.

c627627 · Jul 25, 2016

I would definitely register all. You will be glad you did in three short years.
I dislike gadgets but if I did not I would search for
"Windows 7 gadgets on Windows 10"
I appears there is a way to have them on Windows 10.

I went as far as figuring out how to transfer all native Games from Windows 7 to Windows 8. I know that can be done.
Maybe the same method could be done for Windows 10 for both native games and gadgets.

Audioaficionado · Jul 25, 2016

I will try the clean install > activate with win7 COA method for the VMs.

knoober · Jul 25, 2016

Audioaficionado said:
I will try the clean install > activate with win7 COA method for the VMs.

Try Rainmeter instead of gadgets. Works on Win10 so far

Silver_Pharaoh · Jul 25, 2016

knoober said:
Try Rainmeter instead of gadgets. Works on Win10 so far

Might I also add that Rainmeter has come a long way in a few years. There's a lot of gadgets to add now.

Audioaficionado · Jul 25, 2016

SM X8DTHiF is done. Just some tweaking to ensure functionality like get our network printer set up, etc.

Asus Commando: Asus doesn't seem to support winten drivers. Will have to find original component mfrs like Intel for drivers.

VMs will work as I've installed it a few times already.

chawks2 · Jul 25, 2016

My SCCM adventure has ended, and boy was that one a doozy.

Now, for my 3 hour experience on the phone with the activation team. I purchased a license for W81 back in 2014 and was excited to hear I would be able to use that code for W10. NOT SO FAST! I purchased W81 FULL OEM version and it turns out this product key was "missing from their database". According to the activation team, because my key was "missing" the only product they were able to activate was the "Home" version. This did not sit with me well.

I am warning all of you now, do not succumb to procrastination. What I experienced today was not a smooth oiled machine by any means, and I am very curious how this is all going to pan out come 7/29. I asked each rep if they were preparing for long nights ahead, 2/3 of them seemed unprepared to field basic questions, but were very quick to deploy their written script in front of them. One of them even told me, "..the only way you can fix your problem is to install W81 and upgrade to W10.." - grrrrrrr

c627627 · Jul 25, 2016

As long as you register on the cloud, you can nuke everything and install fresh, not a bad idea to install the new Win10 build when it comes out on Aug 2, fresh.

chawks2 · Jul 25, 2016

I also neglected to mention there is no dependency on this non-sensical way to partition your hard drive for the W10 upgrades. (unless you are in love with bitlocker) Several individuals have been posting about how you need a "recovery" partition or a "boot" partition. For me it's just simpler to have a single partition to do everything and it upgraded without a hitch. I am thankful MS did not force that down my throat.

Audioaficionado · Jul 26, 2016

Got all 3 VMs built and winten clean installed and auto activated using my win7 COAs. Each of 6 total winten pro installations so far have the same key, but different product IDs. Only 2 left to go.

chawks2 · Jul 26, 2016

Here we go again =

C:\Windows.old (product of the upgrade) - 1.27G
C:\$WINDOWS.~BT (product of the upgrade) - 3.64G
C:\$WINRE_BACKUP_PARTITION.MARKER

These are showing up all over my infrastructure. I have seen this left behind for failed updates, but never for upgrades which were successful.

Can anyone else confirm this is happening for successful upgrades? Additionally, is this something I am responsible to remove, or is there some nifty timer MS is using to remove these files??

Audioaficionado · Jul 26, 2016

Not on my successful upgrade.

c627627 · Jul 26, 2016

Windows 10 is supposed to allow you to revert back to your old OS using those files.

But

[If you upgraded] To free up a considerable amount of disk space, including removing Windows.old folder: Search > clean > Select the system drive > OK > Wait, then click on Clean up system files button > Select the system drive > OK > CHECK: Previous Windows installation(s) and scroll down and CHECK: Temporary Windows installation files > OK > Delete Files > Yes.

Audioaficionado · Jul 26, 2016

After 30 days 'windows old' gets deleted.

Audioaficionado · Jul 27, 2016

So did we ever figure out a way to prevent winten from automatically downloading and installing updates just from checking what updates are available?

chawks2 · Jul 27, 2016

Audioaficionado said:
So did we ever figure out a way to prevent winten from automatically downloading and installing updates just from checking what updates are available?

I thought this was addressed in this monster thread somewhere. If you have a domain, you can prevent it from occurring through GPOs. I provided them wayyyy back in the beginning of this thread. I'll see if I can dig it up and provide link.

Pertinent threads regarding auto updates =

Post 1
Post 2
Post 3

Hope helps. :thup:

c627627 · Jul 27, 2016

Audioaficionado said:
So did we ever figure out a way to prevent winten from automatically downloading and installing updates just from checking what updates are available?

This is the reason I will only reboot into Windows 10 if absolutely necessary. You cannot get anywhere near Windows 10 Update page without *everything* - no matter how trivial - being automatically downloaded and installed on ANY version of Windows 10.

The most you can do, and then only under Pro version of 10 is: not allow updates to auto install willy-nilly if you DO NOT go anywhere near the Win10 Update page.

But as soon as you merely *open* the Windows 10 Update page, your setup is done, it will be replaced with whatever Microsoft has going at the time as soon as the download completes...

chawks2 · Jul 27, 2016

Welp, my IIS server got bonked from the 10240 -> 10586 upgrade. ATM, it appears just my logfiles were affected and now my SPLUNK config is a mess, *POOF* :bang head

eventvwr said:
The server service was unable to recreate the share FTP because the directory C:\Windows\System32\LogFiles\FTPSVC3 no longer exists. Please run "net share FTP /delete" to delete the share, or recreate the directory C:\Windows\System32\LogFiles\FTPSVC3.

Strangely, it does exist, with logfiles for just today after the upgrade. *sigh*

Now I have to contemplate going back to my snapshot, now if I just didnt script removal of the "Windows.old" directory. *sigh*

More errors =

eventvwr said:
Windows cannot find the local profile and is logging you on with a temporary profile. Changes you make to this profile will be lost when you log off.

eventvwr said:
Missing management class description for class 'SMS_AppConfigTemplateSettings'\r\nSystem.Collections.Generic.KeyNotFoundException\r\nThe given key was not present in the dictionary.\r\n at System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2.get_Item(TKey key)
at Microsoft.ConfigurationManagement.AdminConsole.FrameworkInitializer.ReadSecurityInformationFromXml.Initializer(QueryProcessorBase queryProcessor, ConnectionManagerBase connectionManager, SmsNamedValuesDictionary namedValues)\r\n

c627627 · Jul 27, 2016

Brand new major build of Windows 10 is coming early next week.
I would hold off on any major reinstalls until then if you can.

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